Tag: Madeline Johnson

It’s All For You

Here’s a way to get through the hard times. Imagine if everything is happening for you. Madeline Johnson

Here’s a way to get through the hard times. Imagine if everything is happening for you. Even the suckiest parts of life. That crazy client you just can’t make happy? Teaching you patience and understanding. The partner that just won’t commit? Raising your standards about what you will and won’t tolerate. The unorganized boss who does everything half-assed? Demonstrating ways to avoid disaster. Fair-weather friends? What true compassion and understanding means to you.

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Everything in your life is leading you to a better tomorrow. While it might not feel great in the midst of moment, you have faith that if you learn from the hard times you will grow stronger and better into tomorrow.

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Featured Art

@cult.class

Believing in More

For the most part I think we all wish to become the deliberate creators of our own lives.  We truly want to believe that we still have the freedom and capability to shape our own realities.
We all want to believe that we can succeed in whatever our dreams may be. Yet somehow we get stuck. Stunted by our limiting beliefs.
I’m too old.
I’m too young.
I’m not smart.
I’m not pretty.
I’m not handsome.
I’m not thin.
I’m not funny.
I’m not wealthy.
I’m not talented enough.
Beliefs that break our hearts and kill our dreams.
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But let us for a moment dissect what a belief is and what that “enough” might buy us.
Let me know if you agree. A belief is a thought that is backed by your confidence, faith, trust and acceptance – it is an assumed truth for you  and the best explanation that you have based on the evidence you have experienced so far in life.
The word “enough” is an opportunity to grow. Ask yourself, what would it require you to be “enough” of something. What would you need to be, to be enough? What would you need to believe? What would you need to sacrifice?
Take a moment to reflect. Are your beliefs a detriment or a benefit to you? That is a good question to ponder.  While you are at it, be honest about the emotional payoff you get from your beliefs.
How does “I’m too old” get you off the hook from embarrassing yourself?
How does “I’m not talented” keep you from failing before you even begin?
Perhaps believing that you are not athletic gets you off the hook from getting in shape.
Maybe believing you aren’t creative keeps you from the agony and frustration of trying something new and being a beginner at something like painting, drawing or dancing.
No matter how old, young or smart we are, we must experiment with our lives to build new beliefs about ourselves.  Grow baby grow.
In order to transform, one must pull all of these tragic beliefs by the root, weeding the garden of the mind.
Remove the seemingly innocent beliefs of . . .
  • “I can’t tell the truth because I may get judged…” Better to be heard, than care about being judged.
  • “I don’t want to get close to this person lest my heart gets broken…” Let your heart be soft and forgiving, beating and pumping that love juice. Love again. 
  • “I don’t want to ask for what I want because, I might be rejected” Rejection is your projection my darling. 
  • “I can’t trust people because I’ve been betrayed before…” But what if you aren’t this time around? 
  • “I can’t pursue my dreams because I don’t know what I’d do if I fail. I can’t afford the risk.” What is life but a risk?

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You become what you believe you can be. Before you can begin to grow, you must believe that you have what it takes.

Featured Artist

Mai @glitchostrich

 

It’s Easy

I want to reverse our perspectives for a moment about our lives. Humor me. I dare you to lighten up your load for a minute. Especially during a time of so much stress and anxiety. With so many of us in need of a break, I offer this.

Maybe, just maybe, our lives are suppose to be easier than this. Perhaps we weren’t meant to struggle so much. Could it be that the only reason it seems hard is because we tend to move against the natural order of things? Yes, we are all going through changes, through difficult times. Moving fast and fighting the flow.

What if your complaining brain turned its mantra upside down. What if we changed our thoughts from this is hard to -this is simple. This living is easy. What if we said to ourselves each day, “I was born to be happy, joyful and at peace.” Without strife.

Why not try going with life, instead of against it.

I know I’ve personally had enough. I’m going to give the east ride a whirl.

Featured artist:

Anna Tsvell

Goal Reaching Skills

Reaching our goals can be quite the struggle. More often getting to the goal requires us to not do certain things to get there. The aspect we don’t discuss much is the ability to deny one’s impulse in service of hitting the mark.

When you set a goal, you require a change in your behavior. Sometimes this requires sacrifice and self-regulation.

Self-regulation involves taking a pause between a feeling and an action—taking the time to think things through, without making rash decisions that might side track you from reaching a goal.

Life will throw you all sorts of curve balls to ruin your goal reaching plans.

Developing a self-regulating system – a way to manage your behavior -a strategy that involves the process of guiding one’s own thoughts, behaviors, and feelings involves impulse control over short-term desires. These systems will help you resist impulsive behaviors and improve your chances of reaching your goals.

When you self regulate you learn how to tolerate uncomfortable feelings without getting overly frustrated so you can stay on course.

Self-regulation allows us to bounce back from failure and stay calm and collected.

Featured Artist

@teresalunt on Instagram

What Has Yet To Be Imagined

We know what we have and what is available to us. We know what is here right now. For a moment we are satisfied and then we yearn for something better. Something novel.

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We look to the dreamers, the designers, the inventors and the creators for what is yet to be imagined.

We look to them to dream up something new.

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Featured Art

@johnmorrisssculptor

Feelings

Life becomes a little easier when you begin to realize that feelings are meant to be felt, not meant to wreck you. That sometimes the only thing that is really wrong is your mindset, not your situation. You have the power to create something wrong just by the way you are looking it.

Just because you have a frightening moment doesn’t mean your world is about to collapse.

featured artist

Aniela Sobieski

A Misuse of Your Imagination

When you think about how much time most of us spend worrying about what might happen. You know, when we worry and “awfulize” and “catastrophize” the future. All that time we could have been creating something new, building something better and loving others more. Don’t let your mind misuse your imagination.

Featured Artist

Mariano Peccinetti

Endurance

Endurance is sometimes underrated but it shouldn’t be. To endure is to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilien

Endurance is sometimes underrated but it shouldn’t be. To endure is to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way.

To bring your dreams to life you must think long term and pay no attention to the fluctuations in the current tide of your existence.

You are committed. In for the long haul.

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Joy and disappointment coexist with opportunities, so there is no need to fear the occasional obstacle.

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You have endurance, strength and fortitude to carry you all the way.

 

Featured Artist

@aykutmaykut

 

 

The Process of Self Awareness & Examining Your Heart

Before any true change can happen in your life, you need to really understand where you are at right now. Madeline Johnson

Before any true change can happen in your life, you need to really understand where you are at right now. You need to know what you are working with and that includes the results in your life right now that demonstrate your decisions from the past.

As a progressive and eternal being, you are where you are so that you may learn. You are shown the results of your thoughts, so that you may grow.

– James Allen

If you don’t like where you are living, what decisions did you make to get where you are? If you don’t like how much you weigh, what did you decide to eat that packed on the pounds? (that is unless you have a serious illness that caused inflammation). If you don’t like your friends, why did you decide to connect with them in the first place?

This sleuthing process requires time, honesty and deep self-examination. The detective-like process of becoming self aware and of examining your heart begins with questioning how you got to your position in life right now.

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What were your thoughts, your fears and your doubts along with your hopes and aspirations that manifested what you have today.  Pay attention to your life. Get curious about where you are and apply it to everything in your life, from your job to your partner to your friendships to your diet to your state-of-mind.

This examination includes asking yourself what you like and don’t like about your life right now. Once you have decided what you don’t like you must decide what you want to do about it.

What change would you like to see about your living conditions, your career, your relationships and your self-worth. Get familiar with what you would like to change.

Then, once you have uncovered the good and the not so good aspects of your current situation you might ask yourself what you need to think and do in order to manifest what you want. What new ways of thinking and doing must you put into place to make the changes come true.

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Examining the good in your life is pretty easy to do. You know what you like about your friends, your partner and your work. It’s the looking at what could be improved that is more challenging because so often we want to blame others and circumstances for our current conditions.

In order to change for the good we must be extremely honest with ourselves and begin to take complete ownership of what has happened to us, including our thoughts and actions that led us here.

Change begins with changing our thoughts first. For what you think and do now, will inevitably create your tomorrow.

Some habits are really hard to change, even when we know they are not producing what we want.

Focusing on becoming extremely aware of your habits and behavior is critical to your transformational success but it doesn’t mean you have to be critical of yourself.  You simply have to acknowledge the truth about your life first and then put into place new habits that will manifest better outcomes for you.

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There are many ways to support the changes you want to make and that includes changing your perception and environment.

Read: As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

Featured Art

The Chemical Messiah

Everything at Once

It’s not suppose to be easy, but all these expectations only make it harder.  Madeline Johnson

Sometimes I wake up excited about everything. Well to be honest, I am both excited and terrified. Excited about the opportunity the day brings and terrified that I won’t accomplish anything great in my life.

I’m excited to start the day and I’m ready take off and I am terrified that I will not have the time.

Juiced up, I find myself in a frenzy of desire to do this and do that.  Like a child, I am lit by the divine.  I just want to get everything started already. I want it all at once.

I am oozing with enthusiasm. My soul is on fire. I am determined to co-create with God.

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I begin with the desires. I’m going to find that new place to live, start writing that new book, I am going to learn this and learn that.  All at once.

All of the ideas come flooding into my brain and I am energized. I’m supercharged with an unrealistic belief that I must begin everything right now.

I believe I might be touched by delusion.

I am ready to go. Today’s the day.  All the beginnings will be made at once.

By midday I crash. I exhaust myself mentally. I am tired before I begin. I overwhelm myself with the thought of it all. It’s self sabotage really. It’s also immaturity.

I know better. I know that everything takes time. It’s not suppose to be easy, but all these expectations only make it harder.

Most importantly, I must enjoy the process.

I remember that I am in between.

Start again with small steps. One thing at a time, one moment at a time.

I take a deep breath and begin again.

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Featured Art

Bahri Genç @bahrignc